The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. Guitarist Matt Bellamy successfully auditioned for drummer Dominic Howard's band, Carnage Mayhem, becoming its singer and songwriter. They renamed the band Gothic Plague. They asked Chris Wolstenholme – at that time the drummer for Fixed Penalty – to join as bassist; he agreed and took up bass lessons.[2][3] The band was renamed Rocket Baby Dolls and adopted a goth-glam image.

In 1994, Rocket Baby Dolls won a local battle of the bands, smashing their equipment in the process.[4] Bellamy said: "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement, so, when we actually won, it was a real shock, a massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." The band quit their jobs, changed their name to Muse, and moved away from Teignmouth.[5] The name "Muse" was supposedly inspired by Matthew Bellamy's art teacher Samuel Theoun. The band liked that it was short and thought that it looked good on a poster.[6] According to journalist Mark Beaumont, the band wanted the name to reflect "the sense Matt had that he had somehow 'summoned up' this band, the way mediums could summon up inspirational spirits at times of emotional need."[7]

After a few years building a fanbase, Muse played their first gigs in London and Manchester supporting Skunk Anansie on tour. They had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall. He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media.[8] The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the Muse EP on 11 May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, produced by Paul Reeve.[9] Their second EP, the Muscle Museum EP, also produced by Reeve, was released on 11 January 1999. It reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of British radio broadcaster Steve Lamacq and the weekly British music publication NME.[10] Later in 1999, Muse performed on the Emerging Artist's stage at Woodstock 1999 and signed with Smith and Jaffery.[10]

The Muse logo, incorporated chiefly since the release of Muse EP in 1998

Despite the success of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to sign Muse. After a trip to New York's CMJ Festival, Nanci Walker, then Sr. Director of A&R at Columbia Records, flew Muse to the US to showcase for Columbia Records' then-Senior Vice-President of A&R, Tim Devine, as well as for American Recording's Rick Rubin. During this trip, on 24 December 1998, Muse signed a deal with American record label Maverick Records.[11] Upon their return from America, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them control over their career in individual countries.[12]John Leckie was brought in alongside Reeve to produce the band's first album, Showbiz (1999). The album showcased Muse's aggressive yet melancholic musical style, with lyrics about relationships and their difficulties trying to establish themselves in their hometown.[13]

Origin of Symmetry received positive reviews by critics; NME gave the album 9/10 and wrote: "It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of Cobain and Kafka, Mahler and The Tiger Lillies, Cronenberg and Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album."[19] Maverick, Muse's American label, did not consider Bellamy's vocals "radio-friendly" and asked Muse to rerecord the song for the US release. The band refused and left Maverick; the album was not released in the US until September 2005, after Muse signed to Warner Bros.[20][21]

In 2002, Muse released the first live DVD, Hullabaloo, featuring footage recorded during Muse's two gigs at Le Zenith in Paris in 2001, and a documentary film of the band on tour. A double album, Hullabaloo Soundtrack, was released at the same time, containing a compilation of B-sides and a disc of recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances. A double-A side single was also released featuring the new songs "In Your World" and "Dead Star".

In 2002, Muse threatened Celine Dion with legal action when she planned to name her Las Vegas show "Muse", despite the band owning the worldwide performing rights to the name. Dion offered Muse $50,000 for the rights, but they turned it down and Dion backed down. Bellamy said "We don't want to turn up there with people thinking we're Celine Dion's backing band."[22]

Chris Wolstenholme of Muse performing at the Mod Club Theatre, Toronto in 2004. The international Absolution tour included the band's first shows in North America since 1999.

Muse's third album, Absolution, produced by Rich Costey, Paul Reeve and John Cornfield was released in September 2003. It debuted at number one in the UK[23] and produced Muse's first top-ten hit, "Time Is Running Out", and three top-twenty hits: "Hysteria", "Sing for Absolution" and "Butterflies and Hurricanes". Absolution was eventually certified gold in the US.[24] Muse undertook a year-long international tour in support of the album, visiting Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and France. On the 2004 US leg of the tour, Bellamy injured himself onstage during the opening show in Atlanta;[25] the tour resumed after Bellamy received stitches.[26]

In June 2004, Muse headlined the Glastonbury Festival, which they later described as "the best gig of our lives".[27][28] Howard's father, William Howard, who attended the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack shortly after the performance. Bellamy said: "It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage. It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life."[4]

Muse won two MTV Europe awards, including "Best Alternative Act", and a Q Award for "Best Live Act",[29][30] and received an award for "Best British Live Act" at the Brit Awards.[30] In July 2005, they participated in the Live 8 concert in Paris.[31] In 2003, the band successfully sued Nestlé for using their cover "Feeling Good" for a Nescafé advertisement without permission and donated the money won from the lawsuit to Oxfam.[32] An unofficial DVD biography, Manic Depression, was released in April 2005.[33]

In 2006, Muse released their fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations, co-produced once again with Rich Costey. The album's title and themes reflect the band's interest in science fiction.[34][35] The album charted at number one in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia.[36][37] In the US, it reached number nine on the Billboard 200.[38]

Before the release of the new album, Muse made several promotional TV appearances starting on 13 May 2006 at BBCRadio 1's Big Weekend. The Black Holes and Revelations Tour started before the release of their album and initially consisted mostly of festival appearances, including a headline slot at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006.[39] The band's main touring itinerary started with a tour of North America from late July to early August 2006. After the last of the summer festivals, a tour of Europe began, including a large arena tour of the UK.[40]

Muse spent November and much of December 2006 touring Europe with British band Noisettes as the supporting act. The tour continued in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia in early 2007 before returning to England for the summer. At the 2007Brit Awards in February, Muse received their second award for Best British Live Act.[45] They performed two gigs at the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium on 16 and 17 June 2007, and became the first band to sell out the new Wembley.[46] Both concerts were recorded for a DVD/CD titled HAARP, released in early 2008.[47][48] It was named the 40th greatest live album of all time by NME.[49]

During the recording of Muse's fifth studio album The Resistance, Wolstenholme checked into rehab to deal with his alcoholism, which was threatening the band's future. Howard said: "I've always believed in band integrity and sticking together. There's something about the fact we all grew up together. We've been together for 18 years now, which is over half our lives."[58]

The Resistance was released in September 2009, the first Muse album produced by the band,[59] with engineering by Adrian Bushby and mixing by Mark Stent.[60] It topped album charts in 19 countries, became the band's third number one album in the UK,[61] and reached number three on the Billboard 200.[62] Reviews were mostly positive, with praise for its ambition, classical influences and the thirteen-minute, three-part "Exogenesis: Symphony".[63] "Exogenesis: Part I" was used by director Guy Ritchie in the Jude Law advert for Dior Homme, "A Rendezvous".[64]The Resistance beat its predecessor Black Holes and Revelations in album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold.[65] The first single, "Uprising", was released seven days earlier.[66] On 13 September, Muse performed "Uprising" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.[67]

In an April 2012 interview, Bellamy said Muse's next album would include influences from acts such as French house duo Justice and UK electronic rock group Does It Offend You, Yeah?.[91] On 6 June 2012, Muse released a trailer for their next album, The 2nd Law, with a countdown on the band's website. The trailer, which included dubstep elements, was met with mixed reactions.[92][93] The trailer begins with classical sounding music in the background, but progresses into full on dubstep which some fans were not thrilled about, openly expressing their doubts toward the quality of the album; on the other hand, some fans were excited to hear yet another progression in Muse's sound.[94][95] On 7 June, Muse announced a European Arena tour, the first leg of The 2nd Law Tour. The leg included dates in France, Spain and the UK.[96] The first single from the album, "Survival", was the official song of the London 2012 Summer Olympics,[97] and Muse performed it at the Olympics closing ceremony.[98] The single premiered on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show on 27 June.[99]

Muse released their fourth live album, Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, on 29 November 2013 on CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray formats. In November 2013, the film had theatrical screenings in 20 cities worldwide. The album contains the band's performance at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on 6 July 2013, in front of over 60,000 people; it was the first concert filmed in 4K format.[105] The concert was a part of the Unsustainable Tour, Muse's mid-2013 tour of Europe.[105]

Muse began writing their seventh album soon after the Rome concert. The band felt that the electronic side of their music was becoming too dominant, and wanted to return to a simpler rock sound.[106][107] After self-producing their previous two albums, the band decided to work with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange so they could focus on performance and spend less time mixing and reviewing takes.[107] Recording took place in the Vancouver Warehouse Studio from October 2014 to April 2015.[108][109]

Muse announced their seventh album, Drones, on 11 March 2015. The following day, they released a lyric video for "Psycho" on their YouTube channel,[110] and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order. Another single, "Dead Inside", was released on 23 March.[111]

From 15 March to May 16, Muse embarked on a short tour in small venues throughout the UK and the US, the Psycho Tour.[111] Live performances of new songs from these concerts are included on the DVD accompanying the album along with bonus studio footage.[112] On 18 May 2015, Muse released a lyric video for "Mercy" on their YouTube channel, and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order.[113]

Drones was released on 8 June 2015.[111] A concept album about the dehumanisation of modern warfare,[114] it returned to a simpler rock sound with less elaborate production and genre experimentation.[107][115][116] It topped the album charts in the UK, the US, Australia and most major markets.[117][118][119]

Muse mix sounds from genres such as electronic music, progressive metal[123] and art rock,[124][125] and forms such as classical music, rock opera and many others.[126] The band's style has been also described as "space rock."[127][128][129] In 2002, Bellamy described Muse as a "trashy three-piece".[130] In 2005, Pitchfork described Muse's music as "firmly ol' skool at heart: proggy hard rock that forgoes any pretensions to restraint ... their songs use full-stacked guitars and thunderous drums to evoke God's footsteps."[131][132]AllMusic described their sound as a "fusion of progressive rock, glam, electronica, and Radiohead-influenced experimentation."[133] On the band's association with progressive rock, Howard said: "I associate it [progressive rock] with 10-minute guitar solos, but I guess we kind of come into the category. A lot of bands are quite ambitious with their music, mixing lots of different styles – and when I see that I think it's great. I've noticed that kind of thing becoming a bit more mainstream."[134]

For their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), Muse wanted to craft a more aggressive sound. In 2000, Wolstenholme said: "Looking back, there isn't much difference sonically between the mellow stuff and the heavier tracks [on Showbiz]. The heavy stuff really could have been a lot heavier and that's what we want to do with [Origin of Symmetry]."[135] Their third album, Absolution (2003), features prominent string arrangements and began to drew influences from artists such as Queen.[136] Their fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations (2006) was influenced by artists like Depeche Mode and Lightning Bolt, as well as Asian and European music such as Naples music; additionally, the band listened to radio stations from the Middle East during the album's recording sessions.[137] Queen guitarist Brian May has praised Muse's work, calling the band "extraordinary musicians", who "let their madness show through, always a good thing in an artist."[138]

The bassline, performed by Wolstenholme, is the central motif of many Muse songs, usually fuzz bass, an overdriven, distorted tone. Both Bellamy and Wolstenholme use touch-screen controllers, often built into their instruments; this touch screen can control a variety of synthesizers and digital effects pedals but is most often used to control a Korg Kaoss pad or Digitech Whammy pedal.[146]

Most earlier Muse songs lyrically dealt with introspective themes, including relationships, social alienation, and difficulties they had encountered while trying to establish themselves in their hometown. However, with the band's progress, their song concepts have become more ambitious, addressing issues such as the fear of the evolution of technology in their Origin of Symmetry (2001) album. They deal mainly with the apocalypse in Absolution (2003) and with catastrophic war in Black Holes and Revelations (2006). The Resistance (2009) focused on themes of government oppression, uprising, love, and panspermia. The album itself was mainly inspired by Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Their sixth studio album, The 2nd Law (2012) relates to economics, thermodynamics, and apocalyptic themes. Their latest album, Drones (2015) is a concept album that uses autonomous killing drones as a metaphor for brainwashing and loss of empathy.